Friday, August 24, 2012

Hello everyone. Today's post is my BSBP
reveal. It is my first time participating. For those of you who
don't know about it the amazing Lori Anderson of
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/
pairs us with a partner & we exchange beads. We make something
with the beads we received & on the appropriate date we show what
we made. First let me say THANX, Lori. I don't know if words can
describe how much this blog party means to all of us. Next I want to
thank my partner Anitra Gordy of
http://www.leelucreations.blogspot.com/
. She is a beautiful new bride & she sent me a wonderful bead
soup.

The first piece that I made used the
cute owl focal, the light green stone beads, & the clasp from my
soup. I added silver chain which I wove with dark green silk, silver
leaves, copper beads, rondelles, some green glass, & a bronze
owl dangle. Isn't that owl cute? I added the copper accents because the owl has copper in his foiling & I like mixing metals.

For my next piece I used the jasper
rounds, the vintage chain, & the four brown vintage dangles that
Anitra sent. I made the clasp & links from brass wire. I have
never used this gauge wire before. It was much harder to shape than
what I have used before. I also made the piece that connects the two
strands to the clasp. The focal is a squared stone donut. I used fine
pink leather with pink seed beads to suspend two of the vintage
dangles from my soup with 4mm bicones, & tan glass leaves. They
are very detailed & beautiful rounds. The reason I chose pink is
that there are pink beads in the vintage beaded chain which makes up
the center strand and the metal in the chain appears like rose gold.
The links in the outer strand are jasper in the center. Butterscotch
Czech glass flank the jasper. Next comes crystals and last are pink
seed beads. The second kind of links are made of carved bone donuts,
tan uneven bicones, 4mm rose alabaster bicones, & seed beads. I
have never used donuts before. I made a pair of matching earrings
with the other two dangles from my soup. It is hard to photograph
long necklaces so I curved it into a heart shape so that you can see
the details better.

I saved my favorite piece for last. The
day before my soup arrived I finished reading “The Art of Beaded
Beads” edited by Jean Campbell. I knew that I wanted to make a
confetti bead by Nancy Zellers from the book so that is what I did
with the seed bead mix that Anitra sent. I painted a wooden bead
copper then beaded around it. I wanted some of the copper to show
through so I didn't follow Nancy's pattern exactly. I would never
have chosen such dark colors for my seeds but I knew what I wanted to
do the minute that I saw them. The inspiration for what to do with
the bead after I had it beaded came from Lisa Barth's Caged Turquoise
Bead Pendant published is Wirework fall 2011. The wire that I used
for this necklace is magnetic copper. If you don't know what that
is,it is what is used to make the windings in electric motors. The
wire windings would short out if they touched each other so it has a
coating to prevent this. The coating makes the copper darker &
richer colored. I suspect that it won't turn green like regular
copper. It was leftover from fixing corvette headlight motors. I used
copper 20mm bead caps, dark topaz crystal rondelles, small copper
faceted beads, & a brown pearl drop to complete the focal. I
suspended the focal on a copper coil with small brown crystal
bicones. Next I used copper beads & more topaz crystals. A beaded
spiral rope with copper bead caps uses more of the seed beads. I
wanted a long necklace so I added rusty colored silk for the ends. I
wrapped the silk with more of the copper wire that I put rainbow
jasper beads on to give the silk more strength. I used three copper
jump rings to attach the clasp which I also made. You can see the
difference in the copper colors on the clasp. The base wire is
regular copper & the coil is magnetic copper. Anitra included a
copper hand that is stamped “hand made” on it. I suspended it
next to the clasp as a finishing touch. I am very pleased with how
this piece turned out. I have never made anything like it before. I
also made earrings to go with it.

I have one more piece in progress. It
is a bead embroidery using the large & small yellow stone beads
from my soup. I will post it when it is done. That only leaves two
jasper rounds & the wood beads. This blog party was extremely fun
& it helped my stretch my creativity. Now I'm going to see what
great creation Anitra made with the soup I sent her and I think you
should too. Then I'm checking out the other beaders who are revealing today. They can be found at
this link
http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog-party.html

Thanx for looking & please check
out all the creative stuff the other participants made.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Hi, I know it's been along time since I posted. This last month has been the busiest that I can remember in a long time. I even volunteered at a habitat for humanity house & put up sheetrock. The earrings I am showing today were not made by me. They were a gift from my sister's quilting friend. Aren't they wonderful. They are from India. I feel special when I wear them. I am going to have to think of something special for her too.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Attention Bead Lovers Lori Anderson Of http://www.prettythingsblog.com/ & Bead Soup Blog Party fame is having another bead giveaway. This time from Beads Direct UK. So the only rule to this giveaway is you make something and review it, linking to http://www.beadsdirect.co.uk-- and yes, it's open to international designers!

Here's what you'll get:

Three large-hole wood beads and two magnetic clasps.

Lots of teal braided leather and dyed wood of various colors and sizes.

About Me

HI, My name is Becky. Beads began calling my name back in 2000. They bring me joy. When I have something else to do I can't wait to get it done so that I can get back to beading. When I look at beads I see what they can become. I want to share this joy with others. My greatest wish is that whoever is wearing one of my designs can feel some of the joy I feel in creating my jewelry. I am a member of the Upper Midwest Bead Society.